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Being Obsessed With Dinosaurs Enhances Kids’ Intelligence

While parents tend to believe that their children are too intelligent and talented, sometimes, there are really smart kids that can outsmart adults. This was the case of Charlie, from Essex, England, who managed to impress a whole museum of experts.

On the visit of The Natural History Museum with his family, this 10-year-old boy noticed that one of the signs was incorrect, and the sign in front of the Protoceratops was labeled as Oviraptor.

The family reported this to the Museum and later got a letter from it, thanking them and encouraging Charlie to continue in his interest for Paleontology. Children are often obsessed with dinosaurs, and apparently, it can be linked to their intelligence.

According to Psychology Spot:

“The incredible knowledge of children about dinosaurs is based on a phenomenon that in the field of Psychology is known as “intense interests”, a very strong motivation for a specific topic. In fact, a third of children develop at some stage throughout their childhood, as a general rule between 2 and 6 years of age, an intense interest.

An investigation carried out at the universities of Indiana and Wisconsin proved that intense interests are very beneficial for the intellectual development of children.”

Moreover,

“In practice, this type of interests, especially those that demand a conceptual domain as is the case of dinosaurs, not only make that the child have more knowledge about a certain subject but also enhance perseverance, improve attention and enhance skills of complex thinking as the processing of information. It has also been proven that linguistic skills are significantly improved and are an indicator of high understanding.

In fact, these psychologists explain that the way in which some children study dinosaurs or any other object of interest, in reality, reveals the strategy that they will then use to face new situations and problems throughout their lives. They will have to ask questions and look for answers on their own, asking for help when they think they need it.”

When a child is interested in a certain subject, he would do anything to find out more about it, from reading books and drawing pictures, to watching films and informational shows. This dedication helps the child to develop problem-solving skills, boosts the passion for learning new things, and teaches it to think complexly.

However, psychologists say only 20% of children maintain their passion as they grow older, and usually, forget their interests when they enroll in school. Therefore, it is important to follow these tips:

-- Help your child to find the needed time to nurture the interests

-- Make sure you do not make your child feel uncomfortable about its passion, so back off when needed in order not to extinguish it. Leave it to discover their true love on their own.

-- Help your children to find the connection between what interests them and real life. For instance, they might be learning something at school which s closely related to their passion.

Very often, we think that our child’s obsession with something is irrelevant, but apparently, it can have a significant impact on its intelligence and way of developing in life, so encourage it and be supportive, and next time, it might be your child that correct experts at a museum!